The first shirt came out during the last home stand of 2009, it read "I Survived.." and was never intended to be a real business.
This whole thing really kicked off 5 years ago today, Opening Day 2010. We set up a tailgate party, invited some friends to join and soaked up day 1 of the season at Citi Field. At first, I was pretty sure this was just going to be a couple dozen shirts for my friends and I. I just wanted to go to more Mets games and making a couple extra bucks on the side helped me do that. When fans I didn't know started ordering shirts, it became more real.
I had run a pretty successful BMX brand before this (Manmade), and I used that as my blueprint. The companies I respected the most were the ones that got their hands dirty. Practiced what they preached. Made things happen by doing it themselves, all with the help of a strong cast of friends. Guys like Steve Crandall
(FBM), Robbie Morales
(Cult) and Mat Hoffman
(Hoffman Bikes) have had a huge impact on me. As a rider myself, I wanted to support other riders that owned BMX companies. Not knocking the other brands who make Mets shirts, there are great ones out there, I just don't know them. I wanted to do it myself while trying to get other fans excited. The 7 Line started as a Mets fan thing, it'll end as a Mets fan thing. We own it, we operate it. From the social media, designing, organizing the outings and packing the orders.. we're all Mets fans. I learned all that from BMX.
Thanks to my parents Pete and Carolyn. They let me run the operation in their basement during the early stages, and have been huge supporters of everything since the start. Thanks to my wife Kelly for putting up with my constant obsession with getting work done. She is more patient than most wives, and helps out in the warehouse when she can. I definitely wouldn't be who I am without her. Thanks to Lizy for being pretty much the only employee besides myself since the summer of 2011. She gets more done behind the scenes than people know about. Thanks to everyone who's ever packed orders in the warehouse... Enzo, Rachel and now PJ. Thanks to all those who have ever helped at an outing or fundraiser. And of course thanks to all the Mets fans and The 7 Line Army. Without all of you, none of this would have been possible. Thank you all for believing in this idea.
We're now 5 years in, here's to the next 5 and beyond. Together, we'll keep it fun. LGM!
